Number Sense & Dice Patterns

I just finished participating in the KESAM institute for K-8 Math Teachers.  This eight day workshop covers all areas of math and focuses on how to use concrete models to teach concepts with special attention paid to the five math process skills. One of the great things that I took away from this training was tons of ideas for math centers and activities.

With young students, it is extremely important to develop good number sense.  One of the first things you can do to develop this is to teach students to identify patterns in numbers.  Our adult eyes are quick to identify any object found in groups based upon number patterns we have learned.  For example, look at the two pictures below.  How many ducks?  How many flowers?

I'm willing to bet none of you actually counted the objects in those pictures.  As adults, your mind has learned to identify a pattern of four as well as a pattern of six without counting.  Children have the ability to learn this skill at an early age.  It is a great way to start them on the way to developing number sense.

Dice are a great way to start developing number sense in children.  In my classroom, I begin by teaching students to identify the dice patterns using paper plates.  Much like flashcards, I use paper plates with dots in patterns to play a game called "Name That Number".  Students love it. I progress into students using dice to play the game with each other.  Eventually as students master the ability to identify numbers without counting the dots, I add more than one dice.  Great addition practice as well.